This looks all the drafts since 2002 and ranks teams by total WAR contribution they got out of those drafted players.

Our top two position players drafted in that span: Gordon Beckham and Chris Getz.

Not that this is really news to anyone, it's just interesting to see it organized in this way to show how awful our return has been on drafts.

Dear god, that is disturbing. I knew the organization sucked at identifying talent but you have to almost make a conscious effort to select losers to not find anyone better than Chris Getz or Beckham for that matter. You would think just by luck alone that they would have struck gold with someone.

And this is why I can't stand the idea that Kenny Williams is in charge of the current rebuilding effort. The dude is okay in free agency but when it comes to drafting or acquiring prospects, he's a huge liability.

Who was the last player to come up through the Sox system to become a decent MLB starting player for the Sox? Nevermind any all-stars, how about even just a passable MLB starting player?

I'm having a hard time thinking of anyone in the last 10 years. This last 10 years has brought us the likes of Brian Anderson and Josh Fields. Beckham was supposed to be our one homegrown success thanks to our #8 overall pick in 2008, but he's looking more and more like another bust.

Chris Sale looks promising. We'll see what Brent Morel does after his rookie season. Also, it sounds like Addison Reed might be someone to look forward to.

KW has had success in picking up talent from other farms systems via trades (Danks, Floyd, Quentin) but we're several years removed from those successes. That's probably the closest we've come in the last 10 years to developing our own talent.

Aside from the new CBA helping the Sox, is there anything that we can hope current Sox ownership will do improve this organization's lack of talent? I seem to recall that they supposedly had a "shakeup" around 2008 (when they brought in Buddy Bell). It's 3 or 4 years later and things still look pretty bad.

It's not very likely to build a consistently winning organization without having a good farm system as part of the mix.

Picking nits here, but I think Danks, Floyd, and Quentin had all, at some point, reached the major league level prior to the Sox acquiring them. I would say they were more MLB reclamation projects that panned out.

Picking nits here, but I think Danks, Floyd, and Quentin had all, at some point, reached the major league level prior to the Sox acquiring them. I would say they were more MLB reclamation projects that panned out.

Floyd and Quentin reached the majors for previously, Danks made his major league debut with the White Sox.

Floyd and Quentin were not "reclamation projects", both were still considered prospects when they reached the Sox. They fulfilled their potential after we got them.

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March 16, 2005 - Another happy Sox fan joins the party!
July 6, 2012 - 7 years later he's still part of it...

Dear god, that is disturbing. I knew the organization sucked at identifying talent but you have to almost make a conscious effort to select losers to not find anyone better than Chris Getz or Beckham for that matter. You would think just by luck alone that they would have struck gold with someone.

And this is why I can't stand the idea that Kenny Williams is in charge of the current rebuilding effort. The dude is okay in free agency but when it comes to drafting or acquiring prospects, he's a huge liability.

That WAR total would more than double if Gio and Hudson were included, FWIW.

That WAR total would more than double if Gio and Hudson were included, FWIW.

I suppose it's worth something, but in many cases it's not really worth something all that good. It tells us that once in a while when the Sox do draft someone good, they send them packing before they can contribute and that the return is not very good (Swisher and Jackson). That doesn't really help the case for the Sox development and judgment of young talent.

The only young talent the Sox seem to have had success with in the last decade (as far as making actual contributions to the White Sox and not another team) is the former top prospect who needs a change of scenery type that they acquire in trades.